The Hunger Games Peeta's POV
by GendryaCaesar
Summary: Basically what the title says. The amazing love story in Peeta's POV.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Primrose Everdeen.

The name of the girl tribute from District 12.

I stand in the boys' section of the square as Effie Trinket's words hang in the air. Everdeen. I'm aware of this name.

The day it happened, it was raining outside. My father's a baker, and I was standing over a coal stove watching the bread when I saw her. Prim's older sister, Katniss. She was sitting outside in the rain by the great oak tree in our yard by the pigpen. My eyes turned towards her. This wasn't just anyone. It was the girl I'd been in love with since I met her when I was five. My dad wanted to marry her mom, but she had run off with a coal miner-who had been killed years ago in an accident along with her friend Gale's father. I'd seen Gale around school, too, and we'd talked a couple of times. But he didn't seem very fond of me.

I needed to help Katniss somehow. Let her know I cared. I let the bread burn when suddenly my mother threw open the door. She started screaming at me, like how horrible I was for burning the bread and how I had wasted a great value of money and how she wished she had a daughter instead of a houseful of boys. These words made tears burn my eyes, though I didn't show it. I picked up the loaves of bread, opened the screen door, and stepped outside. "Feed it to the pig, you stupid creature!" she screeched at me. "Why not? No one decent will buy burned bread!"

With my numb fingers, I tossed the burned crust into the trough, and then looked at Katniss. My mother, having left the room, was nowhere to be seen. My heart aching for the girl, I tossed the two loaves of bread to her. I got a beating later, but it was worth every lash.

"Prim!" I jump, and I'm back in the present. Prim has walked up to the steps of the stage, and Katniss is standing in the aisle between the boys and the girls of District 12. "Prim!" She shoves her sister behind her. "I volunteer! I volunteer as a tribute!"

No. No, she can't. I won't let her go. But there's nothing I can do.

As I stare helplessly, my heart aching like it had that day, she mounts the stage. "Lovely!" Effie Trinket sighs. "But I believe there's a small matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for volunteers, and if one does come forth then we, um…" She trails off.

"What does it matter?" the mayor asks. He casts Katniss a sympathetic look. "Let her come forward."

"No, Katniss! No! You can't go!" This is Prim's voice, and she's screaming like my mother when we're late for school.

"Prim, let go," Katniss snarls. "Let go!" I'm shocked at the anger in her voice, especially anger towards her sister, whom she has just volunteered for.

"Up you go, Catnip," Gale says after tearing Prim off her sister's back.

"Well, bravo!" exclaims Effie. "That's the spirit of the Games! What's your name?"

"Katniss Everdeen." This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening. It's happening. She's gone. There's nothing I can do and they're taking her away to die. Damn them. Damn the Capitol.

"I bet my buttons that was your sister! Don't want her to steal all the glory, do we? Come on, everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to our newest tribute!" Effie trills. But nobody claps. In fact, it's so silent you can hear a pin drop.

And then it gets amusing. I almost forget why we're even standing in this stupid square when Haymitch comes limping drunkenly across the stage. "Look at her. Look at this one!" he shouts. "I like her! Lots of…" –here he pauses, and his expression is unreadable but definitely not sober. "Spunk! More than you!" He points directly at the cameras. "More than you!"

What does he mean? But before I have the time to figure it out, he dives off the stage and falls unconscious onto the floor.

I remember again about the Games when they lift him onto a stretcher and whisk him away. "What an exciting day!" Effie observes. "But more excitement to come! It's time to choose our boy tribute!" She straightens her wig. "Peeta Mellark!"

Yeah, I'm definitely having a bad day.


	2. Chapter 2

Katniss and I are taken into the Justice Building after the reaping by several Peacekeepers. They take me down one end of the hallway and Katniss the other, and we're locked in a room where we will get to see our families.

I'm pissed. How could this happen? I have been sentenced to death, even if we are the last two in the arena-which I hope never happens-I will kill myself so she can live and go home. But I hope that never happens.

The door opens, and my 20 year old brother Aaron comes in. He embraces me and I hug him back tightly. When he lets go of me I ask the question I have been wondering since my name was chosen. "Would you have volunteered for me?" I ask. "If you could have?"

"Of course," he answers, and hugs me again. We're really close, our relationship is nothing like my relationship with my mom or my fourteen year old brother Azariah who, unsurprisingly, didn't volunteer for me. "Listen to me, Peeta," he says. "You can do this. You're strong, smart, brave, and so much more."

"There's twenty three other tributes, Aaron," I protest. "The odds are-"

"Forget the odds," Aaron snaps. His faith in me astonishes me. I don't deserve it. "You are going to win."

At that moment a Peacekeeper comes in. "Time's up," he says.

"No," I gasp, reaching to hug my brother again, but I have only just thrown myself into his arms when the Peacekeeper pulls us apart and shoves him out of the room.

The tears have stopped by the time my father shows up. We sit in silence until he says, "I went to see Katniss," he admits.

"You..did?" It's kind of surprising, because well they hardly know each other. But my father really likes Prim, so maybe it's not so surprising.

My father nods. "Try to win, Peeta," he says. "Don't sacrifice your life for Katniss'."

"I can't promise that," I reply. Just then, a Peacekeeper comes in and he's gone in an instant.

I'm surprised to see my mother when she comes. Silence comes over us like it did with my father, and all she says is, "Well, maybe District Twelve will finally have a winner."

This stuns me. Does she mean it? She has faith in me? Still, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm going to have to disappoint her. I'm going to try to keep Katniss alive for as long as possible. That's a promise I made to myself without giving it a thought. I'll keep her alive, and then I'll die knowing I did everything I could.

My mother leaves, and three more Peacekeepers come to get me. It's awkward during the ride to the train station, I know Katniss knows I've been crying which doesn't really bother me.

We get on the tributes train where we are sent to our rooms to get ready for dinner, which Effie says will be in an hour. I take a long shower and change into a different outfit, and I doze off on my bed. I take a short walk and run into Haymitch, who mumbles something about taking a nap and disappears into another car.

Effie knocks on my door when dinner is ready, and I take a seat in one of the empty chairs. She leaves and comes back with Katniss a few minutes later, who sits next to me.

"Where's Haymitch?" asks Effie.

"Last time I saw him, he said he was going to take a nap," I answer.

"Well, it's been an exhausting day," Effie says.

Dinner comes then, and Katniss and I stuff ourselves. The food's so good. One good thing about being here is the food, our food back home is always stale.

"At least you two have decent manners," Effie comments as we're finishing up the main course. "The pair last year ate everything with their hands like a couple of savages. It completely upset my digestion."

I have to fight hard not to roll my eyes. The pair last year were two kids from the Seam who never had enough to eat. Of course, being a baker's son you do learn table manners, but I'm sure table manners were surely the last thing on those kids' minds.

After the meal I begin to feel sick. I ignore the nausea, or at least try, and we go to another compartment to watch the recap of the reapings. There's a twelve year old girl from District 11 who kind of reminds me of Prim, Katniss' little sister, and I look over at Katniss but I can't read her expression.

District 12 comes last. It's haunting, I don't really want to have a replay of this morning. Was that this morning? The realization of a long day finally dawns on me. But Haymitch's fall off the stage is entertaining, and I struggle to hold in laughter. "Your mentor has a lot to learn about presentation," says Effie. "A lot about televised behavior."

I finally allow myself to laugh, because it's just so immensely satisfying. "He was drunk," I inform her, even though we all already know. "He's drunk every year."

"Every day," Katniss adds, smirking.

"Yes," Effie hisses. "How odd you two find it amusing. You know your mentor is your lifeline to the world in these Games. The one who advises you, lines up your sponsors, and dictates the presentation of any gifts. Haymitch can very well be the difference between your life and your death!"

At that moment, Haymitch staggers into the room. "I miss supper?" he slurs, and then throws up all over the carpet and falls down into it.

"So laugh away!" Effie says. She dodges the pool of vomit and then leaves Katniss and I to clean up the mess. There's a moment of silence where Katniss and I look down at him and the mess that we've apparently gotten ourselves into. The nausea comes right back at the revolting smell of alcohol and vomit mixed together and Katniss and I exchange a glance.

"I tripped?" Haymitch asks. "Smells bad."

Yeah, no kidding. "Let's get you back to your room," I decide. "Clean you up a bit."

Katniss and I carry Haymitch back to his compartment, and haul him into the bathtub since he's covered in vomit, and I turn on the shower. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't even notice.

"It's okay," I tell Katniss, because I don't want the girl I'm in love with to have to clean him up. Better just to do it by myself. "I'll take it from her." Her expression turns from disgusted and a little worried to relieved.

"All right," she says. "I can send one of the Capitol people to help you."

Really, all I want right now is to be alone. Well, except for Haymitch who obviously I can't leave alone at his state. "No," I object. "I don't want them." She nods and leaves, and I'm alone with a drunk guy covered in vomit, oblivious to his surroundings.


End file.
